Eventually, I stopped leaving the vicinity of the house.

Every day, as the sun vanished in the horizon I joined her in the window with a meal she had prepared, and the woman, dressed commonly in a plain dark green dress, seemed interested in teaching me her language, something that I excitedly encouraged the very day she brought a book to the table.

It seemed that every time she asked me or told me something, she expected me to react differently the way I did. I must be the worse goblin to ever live.

The first few words I understood were a question.

"What is your name?" the woman asked.

And this time it was I who was surprised, that never occurred to me, for I had been too busy trying to stay alive to question my very identity. So after thinking for a bit, I spoke the only word that constantly kept appearing in my mind.

"Rokan" I answered with my grave, raspy voice.

The woman looked at me in silence for a bit and seemed about to protest, but with a light shake of her head, she placed a hand on her chest and told me her name.

Ismeina was the name of this woman who feed me and taught me the tongue of her kind.

And while her intentions still eluded me and she could probably trap me and kill me at any time, I still kept going, for her food was delicious, and in time all my strength and muscle had returned to me.

She didn't seem to mind, for after a few weeks we could hold a rudimentary conversation, and understanding each other allowed her to demand service in exchange for the food she gave me. Making me clean in her place the house and furniture.

It was all very dirty, but not old or broken, it simply seemed she had stopped cleaning the interior of her home for some time now. Wearing a dark brown tunic she made herself I became a servant of sorts.

One night, when I was about to leave, she stopped me.

"Rokan" she spoke out, making me stop before I reached for the window "You know, there is a front door. You can't keep leaving your footprints all over the table"

I nodded and headed to the exit, but she spoke again as I passed next to her.

"Or, you could stay" not letting me respond, she continued "I require an assistant, that is, someone who will do more than just clean around. I will house you, feed you and care for you, but in turn, you must obey me, help me in anything I need, and care for me If It's ever needed"

Needless to say, I got pretty excited, so with a nod of my head I gave her the confirmation she needed.

"Follow me then," she said after a few seconds of silence "Your job, meaning the service provided to me for your housing and food, will be to gather herbs that I request, as well as the cleaning you have been doing, and whatever else I request of you when I snap my fingers," she snaps them twice " like this, understood?"

With a nod of my head, she opens a door and shows me a rather small room, where the window is closed shut by wooden planks, and there is a single, small bed. This was one of the rooms I was supposed to never enter so it is dusty and compared to the state of the entire house, this room was old and uncared for.

"You may now use this room as your bedroom. Do with it as you wish but the other two doors must not be entered by you under any circumstance" with one last nod she seems satisfied and turns to leave" I shall now take a bath, after I'm done you will do the same"

With her parting words, I'm left in the room all by myself. It's been more than two months since I came to this world, and after everything I've gone through, I finally have a place where I can sleep sheltered from the rain and cold.

As I cleaned the place a bit I heard the two snaps and remembering the agreement I rushed to the bathroom, where I opened the door and saw Ismeina inside the wooden tub, the bathroom was a small room with the tub, some baskets for soap and oils, and a wooden pole where cloths were hanging to dry yourself and crackling firewood beneath the tub kept the water warm.

"In front of me there is a basket with lavender, bring a handful to me and drop them in the tub" she ordered.

So I walked up to the designated place and picked up a handful, walking up to the tub and raising my hand above it to drop the lavender, yet, I froze.

The sight in front of me made me feel that time itself had stopped, for the clear water did nothing to protect the dignity of Ismeina.

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I could hear my heartbeat ringing in my ears and suddenly, the aromatic smells vanished, letting me bask in the intoxicating smell of her naked flesh. Despite her age, her skin was fair, she was plump and her breasts round and large with weight in them. Between her legs, a small patch of hair surrounded her vagina, and I could see a black dot between it and her belly button.

No doubt, I was in trance.

Staring at her naked body I could almost see myself ravaging her, and I had barely any idea about it, but somehow I knew exactly what I had to do, and where everything was supposed to go. I could see it clearly in front of me.

Her moans of pleasure as I penetrated and marked her as mine, the softness of her breasts in my hands, the slapping of our hips as I approach the sweet release.

But the trance didn't last long, for the warmth in my groin increased, and with it, came the memory of the last time that happened. The screaming girl, the aftermath of my hideous crime brought me back to earth as I took a step back, closing my eyes so that I could relax my breathing and focus my thoughts.

That dark need, the desire, had to be silenced. I would never again lose control.

When I opened them again I turned to Ismeina and locked eyes with her. Hers were wide open, like the very first time we met, and I had failed to notice she held a dagger in one of her hands. It took a few more seconds but I finally regained control of my body, dropping the lavender and rushing out.

Was she trying to kill me? No, it didn't make sense, she was testing me.

Then that must mean she knows of this desire, of this sensation deep within me that tries to break out like it did the last time.

After such an eventful night I found it difficult to fall asleep, not only for the image of Ismeina's mature and enticing flesh, but because of the guilt, and disgust I felt for having such thoughts of someone as kind as her. However, sleep did come.

Wasting no time, she taught me the shape, color, and qualities of the plants and herbs she required, as well as where to get them. As if last night nothing happened, she carried on with her duties as I was expected to fulfill mine.

As the days went by I also approached her as often as I could to ask her about this world, her people, and mine. She seemed confused that I had no knowledge about goblins, or maybe she was surprised I would even ask.

Nevertheless, I was given answers to everything I asked, even if she was busy mixing herbs in vials and writing down notes in her book.

This land was Volatia. The largest of lands in all the world, as well as the most damaged, with monsters and warmongering leaders peace and prosperity, were a concept few places could experience. Of the kingdoms we were under Luath, ruled by Frodiff, the Untamed, or Usurper, depending on who you asked, and the lord who ruled over this territory and under the king was Alfred, the Vain.

The village was Alden, a small forgotten place deep within the kingdom territory that neither had the best land for farming nor the numbers to utilize the great amount of wood they possess. Surrounded by forests if they weren't so far away from the borders they would have an infestation of brigands and monsters, but it's a fairly quiet village where nothing ever happens and people could carelessly wander the woods, until recently.

Her last words cut deep, I knew what she meant, and I wondered if she knew I did. But not pressing the matter further, she moved on.

The humans lived isolated lives since they were separated from the rest of the races by a large, and a grand mountain range that almost surrounded the plains and forests they inhabited like a half-moon. While my kind, the goblins, were little more than a pest.

Commonly stupid and weak, it seemed my kin was infamous nearer to the mountains, wherewith many caves and dense forests, they ambush the weak and steal women to impregnate. However, since these were almost always just peasants, the lords rarely ever cared to do anything about it.

The kingdom followed Honta, the God of justice and righteous fury, but other human kingdoms follow different human and even non-human gods. She worshipped Trala, the Goddess of mercy, kindness, and forgiveness, as well as healing.

Her information was a blessing, now I knew more than I could have hoped to know on my own in the woods, and with the glances I took at her mixtures and herbs, I started to understand a little bit about what she was doing.

She was a herbalist. Some sort of lesser witch, witches are women who use curses as tools to grant gifts to those who request them, or to damage others. However only witches that make a deal with a monster are given rot blood, which allows the use of magic which is categorized in different sections by the way they are acquired, like curses.

As such, the weeks kept going by as I learned not only how to speak, but also how to read and write. She taught me basic arithmetics and a little bit of cooking when I aided her on the task.

But it wasn't the only thing she did.

Her teasing didn't stop, in fact, it only grew more intense as time went on. She went out of her way to show me her naked flesh, first causally with a slip of her clothes, or a making me open a door at an unfortunate moment, but soon she opened her legs when I was scrubbing the floors or demanded I dry her after her baths.

However, I never once felt this was for her enjoyment, for every time I looked at her face I could see it by the way she looked at me. She was expecting me to do something, she wanted me to snap and jump at her like a mindless beast.

And while I hated to feel how my body wanted to give up control of that darkness, I also used those instances to ensure I could control it. The more exposure I had to the flesh of a woman, the easier it became to avoid getting entranced or feeling my manhood harden.

After three months had passed and the heat of the day had been replaced by a cold much more unforgiving than the night, as the leaves began to fall and turn yellow and orange, she stopped. No more did she ask me to clean her, nor did she expose herself to me.

I was relieved, hoping this meant I had finally won her trust, but soon she began drinking. Every day, and most of the night, she stumbled her way back to her room and fell asleep only to repeat the habit the following morning.

My lessons stopped I dedicated my newly found free time to studying on my own. It was that way that I discovered that all this time she had avoided teaching me a word.

Something you use to describe a horrible being or person. Something that knows only how to cause pain and suffering in anything near it.

A monster, or how it is pronounced in their tongue...a Rokan.